NASDAQ: NDSN

Corporate Purpose and Goals

We strive to be a vital, self-renewing, worldwide organization that, within the framework of ethical behavior and enlightened citizenship, grows and produces wealth for our customers, employees, shareholders and communities.

We operate for the purpose of creating balanced, long-term benefits for all of our constituencies.

We focus on long-term growth and returns. Each quarter, we may not produce increased sales, net income, or earnings per share, or exceed the comparative prior year's quarter. When short-term swings occur, we do not intend to alter our foundational objectives in efforts to mitigate the impact of these temporary occurrences.

In 2021, we launched the Ascend strategy, which is designed to deliver top tier revenue growth with leading margins and returns. Ascend is driven by three interconnected pillars: the NBS (Nordson Business System) Next growth framework; Owner Mindset, our division-led organizational structure; and Winning Teams, our talent strategy. These three pillars are built upon the foundation of what makes Nordson special: our culture and our values.

The NBS Next growth framework is at the heart of the Ascend strategy and uses data-based segmentation to identify our greatest opportunities for profitable growth and ensure we are investing our resources in those areas. By using data in a consistent and disciplined way, leaders across the Company are empowered to define their strategic business priorities.

We drive organic growth by continually introducing new products and technology, providing high levels of customer service and support, capturing rapidly expanding opportunities in emerging geographies and leveraging existing technology into new applications. Additional growth comes through the acquisition of companies that have differentiated precision technology-based product portfolios, serve attractive high-growth end-markets applications and have a customer-centric business model. The primary goals of our acquisition strategy are to complement our current capabilities, diversify our business into attractive end markets and expand the scope of the precision solutions we can offer to our customers.

Providing genuine customer satisfaction is our priority, and it is the foundation upon which we continue to build our business.

Complementing our business strategy is the objective to provide opportunities for employee self-fulfillment, growth, security, recognition and equitable compensation. This goal is met through the Human Resources department’s facilitation of employee training, leadership training and the creation of on-the-job growth opportunities. The result is a highly qualified and

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professional global team capable of meeting corporate objectives. For more information, see "Human Capital Resources" below.

We recognize the value of employee participation in the planning process. Strategic and operating plans are developed by all divisions, resulting in a sense of ownership and commitment on the part of employees in accomplishing our objectives.

We are an equal opportunity employer.

At Nordson, making an impact in the communities where we live and work has remained core to who we are. Through the Nordson Corporation Foundation, we invest in selected community organizations where we have larger facilities. In recent years, we have extended our reach internationally through our 2:1 employee Matching Gifts, as well as community giving programs in ten international locations. Since 1989, we have donated more than $183 million to the communities where we live and work. In addition, our employees volunteered more than 117,000 hours through our volunteer programs.

Principal Products and Uses

We are a diversified precision technology company that engineers, manufactures, and markets differentiated products and systems used to dispense, apply, and control adhesives, coatings, polymers, sealants, biomaterials, medical components, and other fluids, to test and inspect for quality, and to treat and cure surfaces. Our precision technology can be found in manufacturing facilities around the world, producing a wide range of goods for medical, electronics, consumer non-durable, industrial and other end markets. Equipment ranges from single-use components to manual, stand-alone units for low-volume operations to microprocessor-based automated systems for high-speed, high-volume production lines.

We market our products globally, primarily through a direct sales force and qualified distributors and sales representatives. We have built a worldwide reputation for creativity and expertise in the design and engineering of high-technology application equipment that meets the specific needs of our customers. We create value for our customers by developing solutions that increase uptime, enable faster line speeds, and reduce consumption of materials. We serve a broad customer base, both in terms of industries and geographic regions. In 2025, no single customer accounted for ten percent or more of our sales.

The following is a summary of the product lines and markets served by our operating segments:

Industrial Precision Solutions

This segment delivers proprietary dispensing and material processing technology to diverse end markets. Product line specific solutions enhance product quality and appearance, while increasing line efficiency and reducing material consumption. Technologies are used for dispensing adhesives, coatings, sealants, liquids, and other materials, as well as processing of polymers. This segment primarily serves consumer durables, non-durables, industrial, agriculture, and automotive markets.

•Industrial Coatings – Automated and manual dispensing products and systems for cold materials, container coating, liquid finishing and powder coating, as well as ultraviolet equipment used primarily in curing and drying operations. Key strategic markets include beverage containers and food cans, electric batteries, appliances, automotive, building and construction, composites, electronics and medical.

•Nonwovens – Dispensing, coating, and laminating systems for applying adhesives, lotions, liquids, and fibers to disposable products and continuous roll goods. Key strategic markets include adult incontinence products, baby diapers and child-training pants, hygiene products and surgical drapes, gowns, shoe covers and face masks.

•Packaging – Automated adhesive dispensing systems used in the rigid packaged goods industries. Key strategic markets include packaging for food and beverage, pharmaceutical and other consumer goods.

•Polymer Processing – Components and systems used in the thermoplastic and biopolymer melt stream in extrusion, injection molding, compounding, polymerization and recycling processes. Key strategic markets include flexible packaging, electronics, medical, building and construction, transportation and aerospace, and general consumer goods.

•Precision Agriculture – Precision agriculture spraying solutions, including fluid components, such as nozzles, pumps and filters; smart components that measure and control the flow, quantity and location of dispensed fluid; and control systems that provide a greater variety of input and functionality to the customer. This broad product portfolio is supported by differentiated software and data capabilities.

•Product Assembly – Dispensing, coating and laminating systems for the assembly of plastic, metal and wood products, for paper and paperboard converting applications and for the manufacturing of continuous roll goods. Key strategic markets include appliances, automotive components, building and construction materials, electronics, furniture, solar energy, and the manufacturing of bags, sacks, books, envelopes, and folding cartons.

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Medical and Fluid Solutions

This segment includes components and device solutions for medical, life science, high-tech industrial, and other diverse end markets.

•Engineered Fluid Solutions – Precision manual and semi-automated dispensers and highly engineered single-use plastic molded syringes, cartridges, tips and fluid connection components. Products are used within critical medical and industrial production processes and for applying and controlling the flow of adhesives, sealants, and lubricants. Key strategic markets include electronics, industrial, medical, and animal health.

•Medical Interventional Solutions – Interventional solutions for minimally invasive interventional surgical procedures, including engineered shafts and interventional delivery systems, medical tubing, balloons, balloon inflators, nitinol devices, cardiovascular cannula and biomaterial delivery. Key strategic markets include cardiovascular, structural heart, neurovascular and gastroenterology.

•Medical Fluid Components – Proprietary single-use plastic components in medical applications, including drug delivery and needle-free infusion valves, single-use fluid transfer components, and other related components. Key strategic end markets include drug infusion, IV & drug delivery, patient care, surgical and biopharma.

•Surgical Solutions – Microplegia myocardial protection devices and related consumables used in cardiac surgical procedures.

Advanced Technology Solutions

This segment integrates our proprietary product technologies into the progressive stages of a customer’s production processes, such as surface treatment, precisely controlled dispensing of material, and pre- and post-dispense test and inspection to ensure quality. This segment predominantly serves customers in the semiconductor and electronics end markets.

•Electronics Dispense Systems – Automated dispensing systems for high-speed, precise application of a broad range of attachment, protection, and coating fluids, and related gas plasma treatment systems for cleaning and conditioning surfaces prior to dispense. Key strategic markets include the breadth of the electronics industry manufacturing supply chain that produces semiconductors, printed circuit board assemblies, and electronic components.

•Test and Inspection – Destructive and non-destructive testing technologies, such as bond testers and automated optical, acoustic microscopy and x-ray inspection systems used in the semiconductor and printed circuit board industries. Products also include precision measurement and control technologies that ensure quality and reliability through in-line measurement sensors, gauges, and analyzers that use near-infrared, laser, X-ray, optical, and nucleonic technologies, as well as proprietary algorithms and software. Key strategic end markets for test, inspection and measurement solutions include semiconductor packaging, printed circuit boards, flexible circuits, consumer electronics, as well as consumer non-durable, film extrusion and converting, cable and tubing and energy storage.

Manufacturing, Raw Materials and Other Resources

Our production operations include machining, molding and assembly. We manufacture specially designed parts and assemble components into finished equipment. Many components are made in standard modules that can be used in more than one product or in combination with other components for a variety of models. We have principal manufacturing operations and sources of supply in the United States in Ohio, Georgia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Alabama and Wisconsin; as well as in the People’s Republic of China, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Principal materials include sheet metal, fabricated metal parts, bar stock, castings, forgings, tubing, plastic parts and pellets. We also purchase many electrical and electronic components, high-pressure fluid hoses, packings, seals, and other items integral to our products. Suppliers are competitively selected based on cost, quality and service. Most significant raw materials that we use are available through multiple sources. We purchase most raw materials and other components on the open market and rely on third parties to provide certain finished goods. While these items are generally available from multiple sources, the cost of products sold may be affected by changes in the market price of raw materials and tariffs on certain raw materials, particularly imports from China, as well as disruptions in availability of raw materials, components, and sourced finished goods.

We monitor and investigate alternative suppliers and materials based on numerous attributes including quality, service, financial stability, Nordson manufacturing location, and price. We currently source raw materials and components from a number of suppliers, but our ongoing efforts to improve service and manage compliance requirements and the cost effectiveness of our products may result in a reduction in the number of our suppliers.

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Senior operating management supervises an extensive quality control program for our equipment, machinery and systems, and manufacturing processes.

Natural gas, electricity, and other fuels are our primary energy sources. However, standby capacity for alternative sources is available if needed.

We continue to see a stabilization of the global supply chain, improved lead times, and lower inflation risk. We enhanced our risk mitigation and sourcing efforts, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions. Logistics flows have improved, and global forwarding rates have returned closer to pre-pandemic levels, except for Asia-origin shipments, which continue to be more volatile. We continue to see moderate rate increases on parcel and domestic trucking activity.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property. Our worldwide intellectual property portfolio is strengthened through innovation and brand recognition, and our comprehensive approach for protection and enforcement. We enter into confidentiality and intellectual property agreements with our employees that require them to disclose any inventions created in the scope of employment, convey all rights to those inventions to us, and restrict the distribution of proprietary information. Risk factors associated with our intellectual property are discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors."

We protect and promote our intellectual property portfolio and take those actions we deem appropriate to enforce our intellectual property rights and to defend our rights to sell our products both domestically and internationally. Although in the aggregate, our global portfolio of more than 2,100 granted and pending patents and more than 1,000 trademarks are valuable assets that are important to our operations, we believe that our competitive advantage is also largely attributable to the technical, marketing, and sales competence and capabilities of our employees, rather than on any individual patent or trademark. Therefore, we do not consider the expiration or loss of any single patent, trademark, or intellectual property right, to be material to our business as a whole.

Seasonal Variation in Business

Historically, the highest volume of sales occurs in the second half of the fiscal year due in large part to the timing of customers’ capital spending programs. Accordingly, fiscal first quarter sales volume is typically the lowest of the year due to timing of customers’ capital spending programs and customer holiday shutdowns.

Competitive Conditions

We operate in a competitive global marketplace and compete with many large, well-established and highly competitive manufacturers and service providers. Our business is affected by a range of macroeconomic conditions, including industry capacity changes, global competition and economic conditions in the United States and abroad, as well as fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Our equipment is sold in competition with a wide variety of alternative bonding, sealing, finishing, coating, processing, testing, inspecting and fluid control techniques. Potential uses for our equipment include any production processes that require preparation, modification or curing of surfaces; dispensing, application, processing or control of fluids and materials; or testing and inspecting for quality.

Many factors influence our competitive position, including pricing, product quality, and service. We maintain a leadership position in our business segments by delivering high-quality, innovative products and technologies, as well as global service and technical support. Working with customers to understand their processes and developing application solutions that help them meet their production requirements also contributes to our leadership position. Our worldwide network of direct sales and technical resources also is a competitive advantage.

Compliance with Governmental Regulations

Our global operations are subject to a variety of federal, state, local, and international laws, regulations and compliance obligations relating to the manufacturing, designing and servicing of highly complex products and solutions. Examples of such regulations include, but are not limited to, import and export controls, data privacy, environmental, product safety, corruption, bribery, employment, and labor. To support our policy of compliance in every jurisdiction we do business, we have robust internal controls, quality management systems, and management systems of compliance that govern our internal actions and mitigate our risk of non-compliance. We also have safeguards established to identify non-compliance concerns through internal and external audits and risk assessments, as well as an ethics helpline reporting system. The following describes certain significant regulations that may impact our business. For additional information about the risks associated with these laws and regulations, see Item 1A, "Risk Factors."

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We transact with customers and suppliers in numerous geographies around the world and are required to comply with U.S. and non-U.S. import, export, and sanctions laws (collectively, “Trade Laws”). We have developed compliance programs and training to prevent violations of Trade Laws, and we regularly monitor and adjust our programs and training to reflect changes in Trade Laws or changes in our business. Geopolitical events may result in changes to Trade Laws that may impact our ability to transact business involving certain countries, certain items, or certain counterparties, or may impose additional costs or complexity relating to tariffs, taxes, duties, or adjustments to our compliance programs, training, or personnel requirements.

We are also required to comply with increasingly complex and changing laws and regulations enacted to protect business and personal data in the United States and other jurisdictions regarding privacy, data protection, and data security, including those related to the collection, storage, use, transmission, and protection of personal information and other consumer, customer, vendor, or employee data. The risk of data privacy breaches cannot be entirely eliminated, creating risks of fines and penalties. Additionally, privacy and data protection laws and regulations, including with respect to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"), and the interpretation and enforcement of these and similar laws and regulations, are continuously evolving and there is significant uncertainty with respect to how compliance with these laws and regulations may develop and the costs and complexity of future compliance.

We are also subject to federal, state, local and foreign environmental, safety, and health laws and regulations concerning, among other things, emissions to the air, discharges to land and water, and the generation, handling, treatment, and disposal of hazardous waste and other materials. Under certain of these laws, we can be held strictly liable for hazardous substance contamination of any real property we have ever owned, operated, or used as a disposal site or for natural resource damages associated with such contamination. We are also required to maintain various related permits and licenses, many of which require periodic modification and renewal. The operation of manufacturing plants unavoidably entails environmental, safety, and health risks, and we could incur material unanticipated costs or liabilities in the future if any of these risks were realized in ways or to an extent that we did not anticipate.

We believe that we operate in compliance, in all material respects, with applicable environmental laws and regulations. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations requires continuing management effort and expenditures. We have incurred, and will continue to incur, costs and capital expenditures to comply with these laws and regulations and to obtain and maintain the necessary permits and licenses. We maintain insurance coverage that may cover certain costs or legal claims related to environmental regulations, and we accrue for estimated environmental liabilities with charges to expense and believe our environmental accrual is adequate to provide for our portion of the costs of all such known environmental liabilities. We believe that the cost of complying with environmental laws and regulations will not have a material effect on our earnings, liquidity, or competitive position but cannot assure that material compliance-related costs and expenses may not arise in the future. For example, future adoption of new or amended environmental laws, regulations or requirements or newly discovered contamination or other circumstances could require us to incur costs and expenses that may have a material effect, but cannot be presently anticipated.

We believe that policies, practices, and procedures have been properly designed to prevent unreasonable risk of material regulation or compliance obligations arising from our operations. Compliance with federal, state, local, and foreign regulation and laws during 2025 had no material effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position. Based upon consideration of currently available information, we believe liabilities for any such matters will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, operating results, or liquidity, but we cannot guarantee that material liabilities may not arise from regulation and compliance obligations in the future.

Human Capital Resources

Employee Profile

As of October 31, 2025, we had approximately 8,000 employees.

Total Rewards

As part of our compensation philosophy, we believe that we must offer and maintain market competitive total rewards programs for our employees in order to attract and retain superior talent. These programs not only include base wages and incentives in support of our pay for performance culture, but also health, welfare and retirement benefits. We focus many programs on employee wellbeing and have implemented solutions including mental health support and training, telemedicine, and healthy weight loss programs. We believe that these solutions have helped us successfully manage healthcare and prescription drug costs for our employee population.

In the United States, we match contributions to a tax-qualified defined contribution retirement savings plan (the “Savings Plan”) for all eligible employees, in an amount equal to 50 cents for every dollar contributed by the employee until the employee contributions reach 6 percent of her or his base compensation. In addition, new hires and re-hires as of July 1, 2021, are eligible for an additional enhanced 401(k) contribution of 3 percent eligible earnings. All employee contributions vest immediately.

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Company contributions, both the match and enhanced contribution, have a three-year graded vesting schedule and vest at 33 1/3 percent each year until fully vested after three years of employment. We also maintain a non-qualified, unfunded, and unsecured deferred compensation plan for the benefit of eligible management. In addition, employees hired prior to July 1, 2021, are eligible to participate in a Company-sponsored tax-qualified pension plan for U.S.-based employees (the “Salaried Pension Plan”). The Salaried Pension Plan is designed to work together with social security benefits to provide employees with up to 30 years of service retirement income replacement that is approximately 55 percent of eligible compensation, subject to the Internal Revenue Code maximum monthly benefit. Participants fully vest in the Salaried Pension Plan after five years of service. Retired and former union employees hired prior to November 1, 2004, participate in a Company-sponsored tax-qualified pension plan for U.S.-based employees (the “Hourly Pension Plan”). The Hourly Pension Plan provides a multiplier for each year of service to supplement employees’ retirement income. As of November 1, 2025, the Hourly Pension Plan merged into the Salaried Pension Plan and the Salaried Pension Plan was renamed the Nordson Pension Plan. We also maintain a supplemental retirement benefit restoration plan, which is an unfunded, non-qualified plan that is designed to provide retirement benefits to U.S.-based eligible officers hired prior to July 1, 2021, as a replacement for retirement benefits limited by regulations under the Internal Revenue Code.

In 2022, we launched a global recognition program that allows managers and peers to recognize the special achievements of others through both written recognition shared on a company awards feed, as well as monetary recognition that allows a recipient to choose a physical gift, gift card, or donate the value of their recognition to charity. We also continue our service award program, which demonstrates appreciation and thanks to longstanding employees with five or more years of service. Service milestones are recognized at each five-year increment by presentation of a digital and/or printed certificate with an invitation to select a recognition award via an online catalog.

Talent

Our Winning Team philosophy is to develop talent from within and supplement with external hires. This approach has yielded a deep understanding among our employee base of our business, products and customers, while adding new employees and ideas in support of our continuous improvement mindset. Attracting and retaining the best talent relies on our ability to provide an inclusive workplace, personal and professional growth opportunities, and an engaging employee experience. Demonstrating our commitment to our employees, we conducted global focus groups and an in-depth review to capture what makes life at Nordson unique. The key themes that emerged were: entrepreneurial spirit, opportunity, connection and impact. We are proud that this is how our employees describe their Nordson experience, and we will strive to uphold that culture. We believe that our average tenure across the globe reflects our positive workplace culture and the strong engagement of our employees. Our talent acquisition team uses internal and external resources to recruit highly skilled and talented workers, and we encourage employee referrals for open positions.

Talent development and succession planning for critical roles is a cornerstone of our talent program. Development plans are created and monitored to ensure progress is made along the established timelines. Development plans also intersect with our mission, particularly as we strive to be responsible to our communities.

One of our core values—Respect for People—reflects the behavior we strive to include in every aspect of the way we conduct business. Our approach encompasses inclusive awareness and skill-building. This connection is an innate part of Nordson's culture. To supplement this, Nordson’s employee resource groups strengthen our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace. Participation in these groups is open to all employees. We regularly reflect on our progress and explore opportunities to improve our inclusion strategies, including at the executive leadership and Board levels.

Available Information

Our annual report, quarterly reports and current reports (Form "8-K") and amendments to those reports filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are available free of charge at https://investors.nordson.com as soon as reasonably practical after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Copies of these reports may also be obtained free of charge by sending written requests to Corporate Communications, Nordson Corporation, 28601 Clemens Road, Westlake, Ohio 44145. The contents of our website are not incorporated by reference herein and are not deemed to be a part of this annual report.